Intimacy with God and my Well-worn Bible

By Wesley J Allen

Intimacy with God and my Well-worn Bible is an autobiography telling of my walk with God from 1998 when I discovered the power of love.  Dedication to God makes life and its hardships fully enjoyable.

Intriguing miracles happened.  Blessings abounded in the midst of hardship, unemployment, and ill health.  Instantaneous healing took place.  Help in times of trouble became a reality.  Faith-building and sharing became an everyday experience.

How can one achieve the blessings of God to relieve suffering and troubles?  Reality proves that the answers you would like to see from your prayers do not always happen.  Is there something that can be done to change that?  Can there really be Intimacy with God?

In the pages of this book you can witness the power of God in my life and see how He blessed my friends as well.  I am the least in the Kingdom.  I am the vilest offender.  If God cared for me so much, what will He do for you?

Experience this exciting story.  Add some of its principles to your life and enjoy Intimacy with God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wesley J Allen
• Release date: Apr 6, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224424344

Wesley J Allen

I have written many essays, articles, short stories, poems, and now even two novels.  I write to help people with what I have learned over the years.  I also write for the enjoyment of all who read.

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Author: Wesley J Allen

Copyright © 2006 Artistic Word Creations

Acknowledgements

Kind acknowledgement is made of all who helped me in carrying out this drama in my life.  Some are mentioned in this book by initial only.  Thus they are not listed here by name for the desire to remain anonymous.  They can recognize their place in the story.  We give all the glory to God for He is the writer of the script.  None of these things can happen in anyone’s life unless God be the author.  So here are my wonderful helpers and friends by initial only:

JB: who baptized me into Christ 27 years ago and helped me to take the baby steps in my walk with Jesus.

AS: who has been a wonderful friend for nine years now, though our relationship is up and down because of my own hard-headedness.  Without her I would never have started fasting and consequently would not have begun the Bible reading.

JP: who was appointed by God and led by the Spirit to give me encouragement when I most needed it.  Without her I probably would have died.

DJ: who unknowingly gave the book its title because of her great dedication to God and desire for intimacy with Him.

RM: who was so excited about fasting with us.  Miracles have happened in his life too that aren’t written in this book.

RD: who thought my faith was so great during adversity.  Her comments kept me hanging in there and helped give me strength for endurance and to build my faith.

BJ: who is my wonderful real estate friend.  Without her I wouldn’t live in this peaceful place.  God directed her steps & made things happen for me to have this earthly home.

JR: who is my twin.  Isn’t that something?  I was always Junior (Jr.) during childhood.  Now she has carried that brand longer than I have.

RS: who was my wonderful employer.  He always made sure I was well taken care of, considered me his best man, and in the end provided for my retirement.

And there is a host of others who I can’t think to mention who have helped to make my life wonderful.  We each play a special part in someone’s drama on Earth.  We will all make a big wave in the mighty throng of Heaven.

Introduction

I am what I am by the grace of God I am.  There is no way that I even deserve to be a part of God’s Kingdom.  But blessed be God who has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me. Psalms 66:20 

I am the chiefest of sinners as Apostle Paul said.  I am the vilest offender as we sing in the song; and my eyes leak water when I sing that hymn.  But I truly believe, and God has done wonders in my life.  He uses the small, the foolish, and the baser to confound the wisdom of the wise.  So He uses me for special reasons.

I love to tell of His blessings; and He keeps blessing me all the more while I do.  I go from person to person all across the nation telling the stories of the amazing things God has done in my life. They boggle my mind and that of others too.

In this book I will tell of my Bible reading experiences.  I will tell of fasting and prayer experiences.  I will tell of my dedication to God of all that I am and all that I have; and how He has blessed me beyond all that I could dream or imagine because of it.

I don’t tell you this to be bragging; but in the Lord I will boast.  I tell of my blessings so that your faith may be increased.  ...from faith, to faith... for the righteous man shall live by faith... Romans 1:17  When we tell of our blessings to non-Christians, it warms their hearts and God can draw them to Himself.  When we tell of our blessings to Christians it builds our faith.  When we tell of them, God blesses all the more.

I hope you will imitate the good things you see in me, and turn away from anything evil.  I know that your life will be blessed beyond measure if you will dedicate it to God.  I hope for all the blessings you will read here to be yours, and many more besides.

I write this most especially in hopes that it will help someone.  And I write it so that you can see what reading God’s remarkable book, the Bible, can do for your life, for your character, and for the renewing of your mind.

I want to tell you of my Bible reading experiences so that you’ll know that it is possible for you to do it too.  I will tell you of all the benefits of reading the Bible.  I will even tell you the time it takes to read the Bible from cover to cover.  I will give you a generalization of how much time you will have to spend in God’s book each day to read it completely through in forty days.  I will tell you why that is much better than reading it in scattered bits for a whole year.

Chapter–1

Redeemed

First I will give you my testimony so you’ll know where I came from and how I managed to get into God’s Kingdom, a place I never dreamed of being.  I had always known that I could never be good enough to go to Heaven, or even be a part of God’s people.  Christianity was not for me.  It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in God; but I just knew He would never accept me.  But all that changed in a moment, in the blink of an eye.

Now, I really do cherish the love of my brothers and sisters; but you would not have so easily loved the Wes I used to be.  All through my past I was guilty of all those deeds of the flesh listed in Galatians 5:19-21, all summed up under one word, sin.  And all I knew about God was that He was there to punish me; and I just couldn't be good.  I had tried many times to accept Jesus into my heart, like I was told, but it didn't work.  I just couldn't stop doing all those bad things.

I describe myself back then as a beer-drinking, cigarette-smoking, cussing, foul- mouthed, backwoods country boy who dressed like a countryside goat-roper.  And I was no different at the time I got married except that I had gained an immediate sense of responsibility to my family.  But still my greatest aspiration was to own my own go-cart track.

I was a very hard-worker and dedicated employee.  My boss saw that I had potential and gave me a copy of Acres of Diamonds.  Through it I learned that I could do something better with my life.  My wife and I joined the Amway business.  I saw that Amway people were happy all the time.  They had love and respect for each other.  They were upbeat and positive.  They were going places with their lives.  And they talked a lot.  I wanted those things in my life.  I hated people.  I was sad and angry much of the time.  I was inhibited and self-centered.  I couldn't talk to one person let alone a group.  Anger and hatred churning in my stomach caused me to be sick all the time.

I had been to see many doctors for this sickness.  But no one could tell me what caused it or how to make it go away.  Then one day when I was visiting a new doctor trying to find hope the doctor felt of my stomach and said, I can tell you exactly what is wrong.  Your stomach is churning ninety miles an hour.  You have in turned aggression.  You have got to start loving people and everything.  He showed me the churning in my stomach with a sonogram.  I knew exactly what I needed to do.

I discovered that most Amway people belonged to some Church.  I decided I wanted to go to Church.  But I didn't know anything about Church.  My wife's aunt and uncle, who sponsored us into the Amway business, went to The Polytechnic Christian Church, so we went there for several Sundays.

One Sunday morning the preacher asked me, Wes, don't you think it's about time?  I would not have known what he was talking about except that my wife and I had just been talking and she told me that people get baptized to belong to a Church.  So I said, Yes, I think it's about time.  I responded to the invitation that day, and my wife followed.  They didn't keep their baptistery full and had to make arrangements for us to be baptized the following Sunday.

The preacher came to visit us at home during the week.  He asked if I had any questions.  I was too ignorant to know what to ask, so I said, No.  After he left, my wife and I talked about it and decided we didn't know what we were doing.  We decided not to go back there.  We wanted to go to a different Church the following Sunday.  I didn't know the location of any Church.  I remembered having seen The Meadowbrook Methodist Church high on a hill.  I didn't know exactly where, but I put on my best goat-roper boots and we headed in that direction.  In only a short distance I saw a Church.  I said, Look! There's a Church, and the parking lot is full, and people are going in. Let's stop here!  And so we did.  And we stayed ten years.

Right after the service that day JB, the Outreach Minister, invited himself to our house to study the Bible with us.  When he arrived he said, Wes, I need to ask you some questions to find out what you know so I'll know where to begin the study.  I said, Why don't we start at the beginning? I don't know anything!  I didn't even know where the beginning was.  He started in John not Genesis.

Several weeks later I responded to the